Election Countdown 2012: Occupiers Have to Figure Out How to Defend Themselves as Anniversary Celebrations Continue, and More

This week in the Election Countdown: Occupiers have to figure out how to defend themselves as #S17 celebrations continue in New York; Rahm Emanuel accused the Chicago Teachers Union of using children as pawns, and said he plans to take the issue to court;Seventeen people were arrested and 1,500 plants seized when state drug agents shut down a small business growing marijuana in California; and more.

Mission elapsed time: T + 11 and counting*

‘I like the Walrus best,’ said Alice: ‘because you see he was a LITTLE sorry for the poor oysters.’

‘He ate more than the Carpenter, though,’ said Tweedledee. ‘You see he held his handkerchief in front, so that the Carpenter couldn’t count how many he took: contrariwise.’

‘That was mean!’ Alice said indignantly. ‘Then I like the Carpenter best–if he didn’t eat so many as the Walrus.’

‘But he ate as many as he could get,’ said Tweedledum.

This was a puzzler. After a pause, Alice began, ‘Well! They were BOTH very unpleasant characters–’ –Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass.

Police state: “The police moved away from kettling and mass arrests a while ago and have settled on a much more terrifying tactic–seemingly random snatch and grabs, yanking people off the sidewalk out of a crowd.” That won’t work when the Occupiers drop those stupid V for Vendetta masks and start dressing for success. And what next, the 4AM knock? … Strategic failure, my sweet Aunt Fanny: “[T]he popular assemblies that were held in a thousand squares across the world served as a crucial lesson for the hundreds of thousands of people who participated in them. We should never underestimate how the Occupy movement radicalized an entire generation of concerned citizens across the US and around the world.” … Tactics: “As soon as the police saturated the intersection, demonstrators dispersed to form other concentrations, which was part of the plan: to create roving clusters of protesters as opposed to a singular show of force. As protesters roamed the streets, so did massive contingents of NYPD officers. The largely peaceful protests were punctuated by periodic bursts of violent arrests, as the NYPD continued its tactic of targeting seemingly random protesters to detain in their attempts to maintain order.” Well, a different kind of “order.” (Analogies are never perfect, but I’m reminded of Hutier tactics and distributed operations, which were tactical responses to a war of attrition. Note then, that this headline — “Occupy Wall St. protesters meet wall of NYPD resistance on first anniversary of movement” — gets the tactical situation exactly wrong. Let us remind ourselves also that Hutier tactics failed in the first instance because Ludendorff’s strategic goals not articulated or not achievable.) … Strategy: Reading that flyer (above), I’m not seeing demands, but I am seeing broad topic areas (“zones”) which might create a context for demands were demands to be made: 99%, Education, Debt, Eco. Not a bad cut at a set of wicked problems, eh? … From the Barcalounger: New tactics of “small pieces loosely joined,” strategic “zones”; all this, to me, looks like the beginning of a campaign season as wildly effective as the last one. And unlike last year’s efforts, this campaign can be carried on in cold weather, because the camping element is gone. No matter that the numbers are small; it only takes a pinch of yeast to make the bread rise; and if you make enough bread, the yeast becomes part of the natural environment.

CA. Legalization: “Seventeen people were arrested and 1,500 plants seized when state drug agents shut down a marijuana growing operation Monday near Elk Grove.” Another small business destroyed by regulation. …. ObamaCare: “The [health care] exchange’s public-relations plan says ‘individuals from California’s robust entertainment industry will be approached at the most senior levels’ to promote the new marketplace and get people enrolled.” More rents.

FL. Debt: “South Floridians owe — a lot — on car, home and student loans. [M]ortgage balance is more than $30,000 higher, for example, than the average U.S. home loan balance. [S]tudent debt balance: $32,330 or 11 percent more than the $29,092 national average. [C]ar loans: $16,411 vs. $15,986.” … Privatization: “[Two] unions went to court late Friday in an effort to block plans to privatize inmate health-care services in state prisons.]” Read the story for an example of horrible legislative drafting. … The trail, youth vote: “‘I think it’s going to be a tough one,” [Kristin Perkins (21)] said. “There’s Obama who hasn’t done all the changes that he said he would. But I also believe that you can’t get much done in a four-year period when you’re going against a House that’s all R while you’re a D. And I like that Romney comes from his own money. He seems to know what to do with money, so hopefully that can help the economy.”

MD. Occupy Baltimore: “‘Occupy Baltimore is more or less decentralized now, and there are many groups that are doing different kinds of work,’ said Olivia Robinson. ‘But the network itself has gotten stronger. The interest and the passion that was brought to a head through the Occupy movement is not vanished. It’s still here. It’s deeper, in a way.’” … Police state: “Police in Palmer Park, Md., plan to deploy cameras to surveil the other other cameras in their district. The police said that since April, six people have been involved in camera damaging activities. One man literally pulled out a pistol and used the camera for target practice.” Going meta!

ME. Weed dating: “Women will weed on one side of a garden bed [at the Common Ground Fair], and men on the other. As they industriously work on the beds, they’ll chat, and who knows, she said, sparks might fly along with the weeds.”

MI. Austerity: “Over the last two decades, changes in state policy and funding cuts have pushed tens of thousands of mentally ill people into county jails, state prisons, homeless shelters and hospital emergency rooms.” First, they came for the mentally ill.

MN. Occupy Homes: “By early November, Occupy MN saw the writing on the wall: Hennepin County wasn’t going to let protestors stay indefinitely on the “People’s Plaza”, and though activists won a free-speech battle with the help of the ACLU, the movement made a strategic shift to focus on embattled homeowners facing foreclosure. This would enable Occupy activists to help people with concrete needs, and give them a place to stay when the Minnesota winter arrived.”

NY. Greens: “Peter LaVenia wants five debates with Democratic incumbent Neil Breslin before November’s general election. He’s hoping to discuss issues ranging from student debt (cancelled), health care (single-payer), election reform (public financing) and employment (WPA).” … Occupy Syracuse: “As crowds gathered in New York City for mass protests, Scott McGrody set up a chair in downtown Syracuse. His version of Occupy.”

OH. Water: “The scum that had coated Casey during his swim turned out to be blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria. Later tests of [Grand Lake St. Marys] detected liver toxins and neurotoxins produced by various cyanobacteria.” Ick. … Swing state, Thomas Suddes: “The OH voters probably pivotal in deciding who wins power live in college-town OH, blue-collar OH and central OH.”

TX. Corruption? “Charles Workman, a Baptist minister, former city council member, and civil rights advocate in Hearne, TX, was mysteriously murdered last week. According to news reports he was shot in the head and his car was found set on fire. [F]ears have arisen that the Robertson County DA, John Paschall, won’t aggressively pursue the case because Workman had become [his] nemesis in the aftermath of the infamous Hearne drug stings, which contributed to the ultimate de-funding of Texas system of narcotics task forces statewide, including one led by Paschall.” … STDs: “Worried about rising numbers of babies born with syphilis in San Antonio [and to younger mothers], local health officials have begun assigning case workers to follow infected women throughout their pregnancies to ensure proper treatment.” … Fracking: “Halliburton Co. crew members who lost a radioactive rod used in drilling [fracking] wells in west TX weren’t guilty of criminal conduct, the FBI said as a hunt for the tool entered a fourth day.” Right, which would be why the FBI was called in.

The Romney. “Bitter” [reference; follow-up] in 2008, “entitled” in 2012: “[ROMNEY: ] All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. My job is not to worry about those people [ouch!]. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.” (Obama’s version: “[T]here are going to be very difficult choices and issues of sacrifice and responsibility and duty.”) So the debates, if they are to be believed, will be about how many moochers to throw under the bus and how fast …

Bitter then, “entitled” now: Identical scenario to the “bitter/cling to” flap, when Mayhill Fowler secretly recorded an Obama fundraiser in 2008 (references above), but how in the name of sweet suffering Jeebus did the Romney advance team not confiscate the recording device?!?!?! [NC 2012-06-13; NC 2012-07-19]. Same venue, different day: “[G]uests cavorted nude in a pool and performed sex acts.” Not that there’s anything wrong with that. … Bitter then, “entitled” now: “Republican Mitt Romney says a video clip in which he called nearly half of Americans ‘victims’ was ‘not elegantly stated’ and was ‘spoken off the cuff.’ But he says Obama’s approach is ‘attractive to people who are not paying taxes.’” More walking it sideways than back. Of course, income taxes aren’t all taxes, and blue states subsidize red states.

Bitter then, “entitled” now: “You can mark my prediction now: [The] secret recording has killed Mitt Romney’s campaign for president.” Well, no. Two things are killing Romney: He lost the political class, which gave Obama a pass in the “bitter/cling to” flap of 2008, identical in both setting and message to this flap, and more centrally (via Stoller) he wasn’t willing to do what it would take to win: Run a populist campaign from the right. So is Obama lucky, or what? What next, Jack Ryan?

Election Countdown 2012: Occupiers Have to Figure Out How to Defend Themselves as Anniversary Celebrations Continue, and More

This week in the Election Countdown: Occupiers have to figure out how to defend themselves as #S17 celebrations continue in New York; Rahm Emanuel accused the Chicago Teachers Union of using children as pawns, and said he plans to take the issue to court;Seventeen people were arrested and 1,500 plants seized when state drug agents shut down a small business growing marijuana in California; and more.

Mission elapsed time: T + 11 and counting*

‘I like the Walrus best,’ said Alice: ‘because you see he was a LITTLE sorry for the poor oysters.’

‘He ate more than the Carpenter, though,’ said Tweedledee. ‘You see he held his handkerchief in front, so that the Carpenter couldn’t count how many he took: contrariwise.’

‘That was mean!’ Alice said indignantly. ‘Then I like the Carpenter best–if he didn’t eat so many as the Walrus.’

‘But he ate as many as he could get,’ said Tweedledum.

This was a puzzler. After a pause, Alice began, ‘Well! They were BOTH very unpleasant characters–’ –Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass.

Police state: “The police moved away from kettling and mass arrests a while ago and have settled on a much more terrifying tactic–seemingly random snatch and grabs, yanking people off the sidewalk out of a crowd.” That won’t work when the Occupiers drop those stupid V for Vendetta masks and start dressing for success. And what next, the 4AM knock? … Strategic failure, my sweet Aunt Fanny: “[T]he popular assemblies that were held in a thousand squares across the world served as a crucial lesson for the hundreds of thousands of people who participated in them. We should never underestimate how the Occupy movement radicalized an entire generation of concerned citizens across the US and around the world.” … Tactics: “As soon as the police saturated the intersection, demonstrators dispersed to form other concentrations, which was part of the plan: to create roving clusters of protesters as opposed to a singular show of force. As protesters roamed the streets, so did massive contingents of NYPD officers. The largely peaceful protests were punctuated by periodic bursts of violent arrests, as the NYPD continued its tactic of targeting seemingly random protesters to detain in their attempts to maintain order.” Well, a different kind of “order.” (Analogies are never perfect, but I’m reminded of Hutier tactics and distributed operations, which were tactical responses to a war of attrition. Note then, that this headline — “Occupy Wall St. protesters meet wall of NYPD resistance on first anniversary of movement” — gets the tactical situation exactly wrong. Let us remind ourselves also that Hutier tactics failed in the first instance because Ludendorff’s strategic goals not articulated or not achievable.) … Strategy: Reading that flyer (above), I’m not seeing demands, but I am seeing broad topic areas (“zones”) which might create a context for demands were demands to be made: 99%, Education, Debt, Eco. Not a bad cut at a set of wicked problems, eh? … From the Barcalounger: New tactics of “small pieces loosely joined,” strategic “zones”; all this, to me, looks like the beginning of a campaign season as wildly effective as the last one. And unlike last year’s efforts, this campaign can be carried on in cold weather, because the camping element is gone. No matter that the numbers are small; it only takes a pinch of yeast to make the bread rise; and if you make enough bread, the yeast becomes part of the natural environment.

CA. Legalization: “Seventeen people were arrested and 1,500 plants seized when state drug agents shut down a marijuana growing operation Monday near Elk Grove.” Another small business destroyed by regulation. …. ObamaCare: “The [health care] exchange’s public-relations plan says ‘individuals from California’s robust entertainment industry will be approached at the most senior levels’ to promote the new marketplace and get people enrolled.” More rents.

FL. Debt: “South Floridians owe — a lot — on car, home and student loans. [M]ortgage balance is more than $30,000 higher, for example, than the average U.S. home loan balance. [S]tudent debt balance: $32,330 or 11 percent more than the $29,092 national average. [C]ar loans: $16,411 vs. $15,986.” … Privatization: “[Two] unions went to court late Friday in an effort to block plans to privatize inmate health-care services in state prisons.]” Read the story for an example of horrible legislative drafting. … The trail, youth vote: “‘I think it’s going to be a tough one,” [Kristin Perkins (21)] said. “There’s Obama who hasn’t done all the changes that he said he would. But I also believe that you can’t get much done in a four-year period when you’re going against a House that’s all R while you’re a D. And I like that Romney comes from his own money. He seems to know what to do with money, so hopefully that can help the economy.”

MD. Occupy Baltimore: “‘Occupy Baltimore is more or less decentralized now, and there are many groups that are doing different kinds of work,’ said Olivia Robinson. ‘But the network itself has gotten stronger. The interest and the passion that was brought to a head through the Occupy movement is not vanished. It’s still here. It’s deeper, in a way.’” … Police state: “Police in Palmer Park, Md., plan to deploy cameras to surveil the other other cameras in their district. The police said that since April, six people have been involved in camera damaging activities. One man literally pulled out a pistol and used the camera for target practice.” Going meta!

ME. Weed dating: “Women will weed on one side of a garden bed [at the Common Ground Fair], and men on the other. As they industriously work on the beds, they’ll chat, and who knows, she said, sparks might fly along with the weeds.”

MI. Austerity: “Over the last two decades, changes in state policy and funding cuts have pushed tens of thousands of mentally ill people into county jails, state prisons, homeless shelters and hospital emergency rooms.” First, they came for the mentally ill.

MN. Occupy Homes: “By early November, Occupy MN saw the writing on the wall: Hennepin County wasn’t going to let protestors stay indefinitely on the “People’s Plaza”, and though activists won a free-speech battle with the help of the ACLU, the movement made a strategic shift to focus on embattled homeowners facing foreclosure. This would enable Occupy activists to help people with concrete needs, and give them a place to stay when the Minnesota winter arrived.”

NY. Greens: “Peter LaVenia wants five debates with Democratic incumbent Neil Breslin before November’s general election. He’s hoping to discuss issues ranging from student debt (cancelled), health care (single-payer), election reform (public financing) and employment (WPA).” … Occupy Syracuse: “As crowds gathered in New York City for mass protests, Scott McGrody set up a chair in downtown Syracuse. His version of Occupy.”

OH. Water: “The scum that had coated Casey during his swim turned out to be blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria. Later tests of [Grand Lake St. Marys] detected liver toxins and neurotoxins produced by various cyanobacteria.” Ick. … Swing state, Thomas Suddes: “The OH voters probably pivotal in deciding who wins power live in college-town OH, blue-collar OH and central OH.”

TX. Corruption? “Charles Workman, a Baptist minister, former city council member, and civil rights advocate in Hearne, TX, was mysteriously murdered last week. According to news reports he was shot in the head and his car was found set on fire. [F]ears have arisen that the Robertson County DA, John Paschall, won’t aggressively pursue the case because Workman had become [his] nemesis in the aftermath of the infamous Hearne drug stings, which contributed to the ultimate de-funding of Texas system of narcotics task forces statewide, including one led by Paschall.” … STDs: “Worried about rising numbers of babies born with syphilis in San Antonio [and to younger mothers], local health officials have begun assigning case workers to follow infected women throughout their pregnancies to ensure proper treatment.” … Fracking: “Halliburton Co. crew members who lost a radioactive rod used in drilling [fracking] wells in west TX weren’t guilty of criminal conduct, the FBI said as a hunt for the tool entered a fourth day.” Right, which would be why the FBI was called in.

The Romney. “Bitter” [reference; follow-up] in 2008, “entitled” in 2012: “[ROMNEY: ] All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. My job is not to worry about those people [ouch!]. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.” (Obama’s version: “[T]here are going to be very difficult choices and issues of sacrifice and responsibility and duty.”) So the debates, if they are to be believed, will be about how many moochers to throw under the bus and how fast …

Bitter then, “entitled” now: Identical scenario to the “bitter/cling to” flap, when Mayhill Fowler secretly recorded an Obama fundraiser in 2008 (references above), but how in the name of sweet suffering Jeebus did the Romney advance team not confiscate the recording device?!?!?! [NC 2012-06-13; NC 2012-07-19]. Same venue, different day: “[G]uests cavorted nude in a pool and performed sex acts.” Not that there’s anything wrong with that. … Bitter then, “entitled” now: “Republican Mitt Romney says a video clip in which he called nearly half of Americans ‘victims’ was ‘not elegantly stated’ and was ‘spoken off the cuff.’ But he says Obama’s approach is ‘attractive to people who are not paying taxes.’” More walking it sideways than back. Of course, income taxes aren’t all taxes, and blue states subsidize red states.

Bitter then, “entitled” now: “You can mark my prediction now: [The] secret recording has killed Mitt Romney’s campaign for president.” Well, no. Two things are killing Romney: He lost the political class, which gave Obama a pass in the “bitter/cling to” flap of 2008, identical in both setting and message to this flap, and more centrally (via Stoller) he wasn’t willing to do what it would take to win: Run a populist campaign from the right. So is Obama lucky, or what? What next, Jack Ryan?